Embattled mayor may seek help after admitting to smoking crack cocaine

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is considering entering a rehab program, according to his lawyer, in the first indication that the mayor might bow to heavy pressure to seek help - if not take a leave of absence - after he admitted to smoking crack and a video surfaced of him ranting and threatening to kill someone.

Dennis Morris told The Associated Press on Friday that Mr Ford is "considering his options" and treatment is "one of them." But he said "it's best we hear from his lips."

He said the mayor needs to say what he plans to do himself because "when you go left, he goes right."

Mr Ford has apologised for his bad behaviour but his refusal to resign or take a leave of absence has frustrated both his opponents and allies on Toronto's City Council, which has no legal way to force him out unless he is convicted of a crime.

The mayor was mobbed by reporters at City Hall on Friday but refused to discuss what his next steps would be.

"I'm dealing with a serious personal issue right now. Please give me this time," he said before walking into an elevator.

In another sign of Mr Ford's growing isolation, the mayor's radio show was taken off the air. NewsTalk 1010 announced Friday that he and his brother "have mutually determined to conclude broadcasts of The City, ending with last week's show."

Mr Ford's influential brother, meanwhile, said he has urged the mayor "to go away for a couple of weeks," although he reinforced the family's stance that he has no reason to resign.

"I've mentioned to Rob, maybe go away for a week, a couple of weeks, and get your mind together," Doug Ford told a Toronto radio station on Friday.

Doug Ford, a city councillor, said his brother needs a holiday and needs to work on his weight. He also suggested that despite the mounting scandal, Rob Ford remains a potent political force ahead of next year's mayoral elections.

"If Rob goes away on a little vacation, a week, two weeks, comes back, loses 50 or 60 pounds, and stays on the straight and narrow ... it will be very tough to beat Rob Ford," Doug Ford said.

The mayor, a conservative who was elected three years ago on promises to "stop the gravy train at City Hall," has vowed to seek re-election. He still has a loyal following in Toronto's more conservative outer suburbs, who praise him for cutting the size of the city work force and taking on labor unions, including banning public transit employees from going on strike by having them classified as essential employees.

But Mr Ford's three-year tenure has been consumed by mounting scandals ranging from the petty - making rude gestures to Torontonians from his car - to the more serious - being fired from his cherished side job as a volunteer high school football coach after making disparaging remarks about parents and their kids.

The comments from Mr Morris and the mayor's brother came a day after a video surfaced showing Mr Ford threatening to kill an unknown person.

The shaky, blurry footage, which appeared in the Toronto Star website, showed the mayor pacing around in a room, waving his arms rolling up his sleeves and he unleashes an expletive-laced tirade.

"No holds barred, brother. He dies or I die," the mayor tells someone else in the room, possibly the person taking the video.

The context of the video is unknown, and it's unclear who the target of Ford's wrath is. The Toronto Star said that it bought the video for $5,000 from "a source who filmed it from someone else's computer."

The mayor said he was "extremely, extremely inebriated" in the video and "embarrassed."

The video surfaced just two day after the mayor admitted to having smoked crack while in a "drunken stupor" about a year ago.